Archive for SF: The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy

Movement in the right direction…

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on February 24, 2010 by Aaron

The Macbook is getting closer.  I’ve been waiting a long time to have my very own computer again – a whole year!!

Also, yesterday I picked up editor Judith Merril’s SF’57 off eBay.  It’s a copy that’s been kicking around there for a while and the price has dropped during that time to about half what it was originally listed at.  I got it for $12.  It looks to be in Good condition, and at that price, a pretty good deal I thought.  A copy of Travelers of Space with a Fine jacket together with a jacketless Five Science Fiction Novels (both edited by Martin Greenberg) went for $103 on eBay today.  Wow.  I have both books, Five Science Fiction Novels in better condition with a jacket (see the Close Up) and my copy of Travelers of Space is also in Fine condition (it hasn’t made it to the blog yet but it’s in similar condition to my copy of SF’56).  This puts me in good heart as to the value of the copies I have.  Especially as the jacket of Travelers was noted in the auction to be ‘married to the book,’ whatever that means.

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Close Up: SF: The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy

Posted in 1956, Close Up with tags , , on October 13, 2009 by Aaron

closeupJudith Merril, editor
1956

This is the first installment in a long-running annual anthology series put together by Judith Merril, but I’ll talk more about the series itself in the Review for this.  This is the rarest and typically priciest title in the series, and like its brother I recently did the Close Up on, this is in almost flawless condition.  Actually better than it’s younger sibling. And like with that, there in’t really much to say.  So lets check it out.

Fantastic condition. The dust jacket is completely without issue. Sharp edges all around, bright colors, no fading on the spine – absolutely beautiful. Another cool thing is that the cover art is by Ed Emshwiller. After this, the subsequent Gnome Press editions in this series were inked by W.I. Van der Poel, of whom I am NOT a fan.

The cloth boards are sharp. Looks great. Currey ‘A’ binding too, which is even better.
With the view from the top we can see the only issue this copy has, but well have a closer look at that in a second.


Spine sits square and the binding is tight. You can see the edges of the jacket are nice and sharp. The block is barely discolored at all.

Here’s a closer look at that issue.  I looks like a bit of liquid has at some point gotten on to the cloth somehow.

The jacket is great.  You can see the only touch of wear on the front corner of the tail.  Negligible.
It has a book plate.  It’s one we’ve seen before on The Survivors – different name though.
Mark Wm. Waterbury.  I assume the Wm. stands for William.  I’d like to shake his hand for taking such wonderful care of this book.
The back is spotless and bright.
I have to give a plug to Mike at Mars Books and Wood.  This isn’t actually the copy I picked up.  I purchased the other copy he has there and he said to me he had a better example he could give me for a few dollars more.  I said “Ok.”  Mike and I have had dealings before.  I got Forgotten Planet and This Fortress World off him a while ago on very good terms, so I had a degree of confidence in what I would receive.  Confidence well placed.  Many Thanks Mike!!

Year: 1956
Paid: $93
Art: Ed Emschwiller
Quantity: 3000 copies
Binding: Currey priority ‘A’.  Red cloth with black lettering on the spine.
GP Edition Notes: 1st edition so stated.
Comments: A superb copy. I’m going to suggest that this is in Fine condition despite that small stain at the top of the spine – am I stretching the truth?? $93 seems to be a pretty good price, I’ve seen worse examples offered for a lot more.
Expand Upon: wikipedia.com, Internet Speculative Fiction Database

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New Arrivals

Posted in New Arrivals with tags , , , , , on October 12, 2009 by Aaron

Very happy!!  The two I’d been expecting arrived today.  The Castle of Iron and SF: The Year’s Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy (effectively SF ’56).  The Castle of Iron was as expected, actually better.  The book is in NF condition excepting the severe sunning on the spine.  Does anyone know what effect this condition has on grading??  So I was satisfied there.  The other left me speechless.  As I was unwrapping it, I could see it was looked great, but once I actually had it fully unwrapped it is superb.  The dust jacket is almost flawless and aside from just one small blemish and a book plate the book itself is awesome.  I’ll do a Close Up on it very soon.

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